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Chapter 4

Author: Ellie Brooks
"Monica was barely laid to rest yet, and you showed up dressed like that to see her. You stood in front of her grave and said, 'For everyone's reputation, let's just pretend nothing ever happened.' Sandra, you make me sick."

For a split second, the live chat froze.

Then it completely exploded.

[What the hell? She cheated with the guy?]

[This is too much. My brain just overheated. A wife who's a judge with a school bully boy toy? This is insane!]

[Wait. The more I listen, the more it sounds like Bradley is telling the truth. That woman's been acting the whole time.]

[If this is real, it's beyond disgusting. Monica isn't even gone yet, and the wife and the killer… I can't even think about it.]

Sandra's face flushed bright red.

"Bradley, stop slandering me! You're crazy! You've been blinded by hatred!"

I didn't bother responding. I pulled out my phone and projected a heart rate monitor app onto the corner of the livestream.

The line representing Eric's pulse was dropping, slow and steady, heading straight into danger.

"Look. Your buddy's heart rate is about to hit a critical level. Give it another 30 minutes. Even a miracle won't save him then."

I picked up the claw hammer and casually measured it above Eric's head.

Then, I issued my final ultimatum.

"I'll say this one last time. Release every angle, every unedited second of the full footage. Otherwise, this hammer comes down on his skull next."

After that, I cut the call with the police.

Standing was getting tiring.

I dragged a broken chair someone had abandoned on the rooftop, sat down, and closed my eyes.

My thoughts drifted back to the past, without me even realizing it.

After what happened to Monica, I nearly lost my mind.

I never believed she killed herself.

I used every connection I had. I even paid a small fortune to a top-tier hacker friend.

That was how I dug the deleted original surveillance footage out of hard drives the school had wiped again and again.

The video showed Eric leading a group of people as they cornered Monica in an empty art room.

It showed them laughing as they stomped on the prosthetic legs that carried all her hope, crushing them piece by piece.

It showed them pouring paint across the floor and forcing my proud little sister to lie flat and lick it clean, just to recover a worthless fragment of her leg.

Back then, I was stupid enough to hand the flash drive containing the full footage to the person I trusted most: my wife, the presiding judge of the family court.

I believed she would give Monica justice.

But the night before the hearing, Eric cried and dropped to his knees in front of Sandra, begging her to save him.

The next day, Sandra came to me, looking exhausted.

She told me the flash drive had suffered an "accidental" physical failure. The data was completely unrecoverable.

She tried to persuade me.

"Bradley, he's still just a kid. Don't ruin his whole life. And about Monica… You should let it go. Let her soul rest in peace."

Let her soul rest in peace…

I snapped my eyes open. The regret had kept me from sleeping more than a few hours in the past month.

Just then, Sandra's voice rose again from below.

Through the megaphone, it came trembling, cracked, completely broken.

"Fine. I'll give it to you. I'll give you everything! Bradley, you win. Just don't hurt him. I'm coming up now. I'll bring you the backup video."

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  • Clean Verdict, Dirty Truth   Chapter 11

    Along with the letter, there was a brown paper envelope.The warden wrote that it contained Sandra's personal effects and that she had specifically asked for it to be given to me.I hesitated for a long time before finally opening it.Inside were more than a dozen pages, packed tight with handwriting. The letters were messy and twisted, heavy with despair and struggle.Sandra wrote that she knew her crimes were unforgivable, and she wasn't asking for my pardon.She only wanted to tell me the truth.She said the reason she slid step by step into the abyss was not, in the beginning, because she loved Eric.It was because Eric held something over her. Something lethal enough to destroy her entire family.Years ago, her father, a high-ranking official, had committed a serious act of negligence.The only proof, a critical audio recording, somehow ended up in the hands of Eric's father.From that moment on, the Hoyles family became a hidden, venomous snake, using that leverage to c

  • Clean Verdict, Dirty Truth   Chapter 10

    Meanwhile, Sandra was left to rot in the shadows, slowly falling apart.That was a punishment far crueler than death.I went to Monica's grave and laid down a huge bouquet of sunflowers, her favorite. They were bright yellow, like the sun itself."Monica, I got justice for you. Everyone who hurt you paid the price. You can rest now."A light breeze passed through. The sunflower heads swayed gently in front of the headstone, as if Monica were answering me from somewhere beyond time.-I am Bradley Porter.I once turned myself into a monster for the sake of revenge, walking the thin line between the law and the abyss.Now, I had chosen to return to the world of the living.With Harriet's help, the Monica Beacon Foundation quickly found its footing.We provided free legal aid and long-term psychological counseling for children who had suffered from school bullying. We also helped children like Monica, kids who lost limbs due to illness or accidents, by giving them the best prost

  • Clean Verdict, Dirty Truth   Chapter 9

    "Bradley understands the dark side of human nature far better than any of you imagined."The evidence was overwhelming. There was nothing left to argue.The judge's face had gone livid. He slammed the gavel down, his voice carrying a level of authority and fury the courtroom had never heard before."Order! Bailiffs, take the suspects, Sandra Pauley and Eric Hoyles, into custody immediately. This trial is suspended. The case will be reopened as a separate investigation!"-The truth broke into the open, and public opinion flipped overnight.Nationwide outrage erupted like a volcano, burning away every last trace of the halo Sandra and Eric once wore, leaving nothing but ash and contempt.In the new proceedings that followed, the complete video was finally released to the public.The footage showed Monica being cornered in the art room, bullied, humiliated, and stripped of her dignity piece by piece.Its cruelty shocked everyone who saw it.The despair and agony Monica endured

  • Clean Verdict, Dirty Truth   Chapter 8

    Under Harriet's insistence and the overwhelming pressure of public opinion, the judge finally agreed to a 30-minute recess to allow Harriet time to organize and submit her new evidence.Thirty minutes later, the court resumed.The atmosphere in the room had turned heavy and suffocating.Harriet opened with a complete financial analysis report.Standing in front of the large screen, she used a laser pointer to walk everyone through it step by step.Over the past five years, large sums of money had moved quietly between Sandra's personal accounts, her parents' company accounts, and the company owned by Eric's father.The amounts were enormous. Tens of millions of dollars. And none of it could be reasonably explained."Your Honor, members of the jury," Harriet said calmly, "I don't know what kind of friendly relationship requires this kind of financial arrangement."With that single sentence, the foundation of their so-called innocent bond cracked.Sandra's face had already gone

  • Clean Verdict, Dirty Truth   Chapter 7

    The way I stared at Sandra finally made her uncomfortable.That victorious smile slipped away.She let out a cold snort and turned to leave with Eric.As the door closed, I heard her clearly telling the officer outside, "He's emotionally unstable and highly aggressive. Keep him under strict watch. Make sure he doesn't kill himself."-The trial came faster than I expected.Escorted by court deputies, I walked step by step into a courtroom packed to the brim.The gallery was a solid wall of people. Cameras bristled in every direction. Every eye held the same mix of judgment and disgust as they watched the so-called madman on trial.Sandra sat at the plaintiff's table as the key victim and witness.She wore a plain black suit. Her face looked worn and pale, her expression fragile and grief-stricken.With a slightly trembling voice, she told the judge and jury a tragic story.A story about a woman driven to desperation by her husband's obsessive behavior, forced into making an

  • Clean Verdict, Dirty Truth   Chapter 6

    Angry voices crashed over me from every direction."Psycho! Murderer!""Judge Pauley is awesome! She saved everyone. She's the prettiest and kindest judge ever!"They took me to a heavily guarded hospital room on the top floor.Sandra's performance had been flawless.In the court of public opinion, I was already labeled a deranged loser who snapped after losing a lawsuit and turned into a threat to society.Not long after, the door opened, and Sandra walked in.She had changed into a clean white dress. She wore a gentle, saintly smile, but deep in her eyes sat naked contempt and the thrill of victory.Behind her was Eric, sitting in a wheelchair.Both his legs were wrapped thick in bandages. When he looked at me, his eyes burned with hatred.Sandra waved off the officer at the door, then calmly poured me a glass of water and set it on the bedside, as if we were still a loving couple."Bradley, you poor thing," she said softly. "Look at you. You look awful."She leaned down

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